Ryelsi Christmas Drabbles
by rockyshadow
Summary: Spend some time with Ryan and Kelsi during the holiday season. Includes references to Ryelsi/Zekepay and many of the other Wildcats make appearances too.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney

I also don't own any songs, television shows, movies or real locations mentioned in these drabbles

**Gift Wrap**

Ryan was in his bedroom in his apartment in New York wrapping the Christmas gifts he was going to give his friends and family. Unlike with his family and other friends, he saw Kelsi every day, so he had a hard time not telling her what her present was. He made sure to get everybody on his list the perfect gift and the gift wrap was different for each one too. He thought that that would be something that they would expect from him. Too bad he wouldn't see the looks on their faces when they received them.

**Ice Skating Rink**

Ryan surprised Kelsi by taking her to the famous ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center. He promised that he would teach her how to skate as soon as it got cold enough. She fell more often than she skated and he continued to help her up. Not only did she have a hard time keeping her balance, she also tangled herself up in her scarf. They had a lot of fun, but after making a day of it they were both very sore. They were also numb from head to toe. She vowed that she would never ice skate again.

**Head Wear**

All of Ryan and Kelsi's friends from back at East High knew that they loved to wear hats, so for Christmas they were each given eight different kinds of head wear. They chuckled as they realized what was in the boxes. The designs on the hats were sometimes elaborate, but they were just the type they would both wear. Some were colorful and others had some things stitched into them. Kelsi put each hat in a special place on the rack and quickly decided when she would wear all of hers. Their old friends definitely knew them very well indeed.

**Burn**

Kelsi had been baking all day She was listening to Christmas carols and hadn't been paying attention to the oven. The melody of "Jingle Bells" surrounded her. The kitchen suddenly filled with smoke and the fire alarm began beeping loudly. She grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out. That batch of cookies were charred. At least it was only one batch. She hoped Ryan wouldn't mind eating some burned sugar cookies. Kelsi promised herself she would pay attention to what she was doing from now on. More cookies were ready to be put in the oven moments later.

**Re-gifting**

It was four days before Christmas and Kelsi's friend decided the the two of them needed to do a gift exchange. She handed the petite composer a large pink box. Inside was a rhinestone covered dress. It shimmered in the light of the room and was not her style at all. After the other woman left the room Kelsi returned it to the box hid it away in her closet. She thanked her new friend and decided to re-gift it to Sharpay. She would appreciate it much more and Kelsi hadn't found anything to get her that year yet anyway.

**Shiver**

Kelsi was standing outside the entrance to her new apartment building shivering in the cold. She didn't have her jacket and she couldn't find her key. She tried hopping in place to keep herself warm while she was looking frantically through her purse. Then she saw Ryan walking up behind her. She was grateful to see him. Not only because he was very important to her, but also because he had recently moved into the building himself and had a key of his own. He silently opened the door, than took her hand and led her to the warmth inside.

**Lights Display**

Ryan and Kelsi decided to go to the annual Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanical Gardens Lights Display before they returned to New York. They were cold, but all the different garden exhibits had such beautiful displays. Their jackets kept them warm enough and they didn't want to leave. The bulbs were red, green, blue or white and were formed as different animal shapes. There were bird light displays as well as many based on many mammalian species. They agreed that they should have come to see this more often when they had been living there. It was a lot of fun.

**Frost**

It was so cold in Kelsi's apartment that there was frost on the windows. Ryan called her landlord. He was told that the furnace was broken and was in the process of being fixed. While waiting for the heating to be repaired they decided to make some hot chocolate and cookies. They grabbed a couple of blankets and settled on her couch to watch some holiday specials like, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" together on television. Nearly three hours later the heating in her apartment building was finally fixed to their immense relief.

**Food**

The Evans' invited Kelsi, Zeke and their parents to have Christmas dinner at their home. The Nielsen's and the Baylor's hadn't spent very much time around the older members of the Evans family, but the four of them supported the relationships their children had with the twins, so they came to their home to celebrate. Derby and Vance had had it all made by the Lava Springs staff. The food surrounded the very large table. There was a huge turkey, with a variety of vegetables and different types of potato recipes. The desserts on the table were provided by Zeke.

**Toys**

When Kelsi was getting ready to move out of her childhood home and move to Julliard she decided to give some of her old toys to "Toys For Tots." She wasn't the only one in her group of friends that wanted to donate. Ryan, Gabriella, Taylor and Martha did too. Gabriella had also sneaked out Troy's Robo Rob out of his treehouse and brought it along. They brought the toys to the tree in the middle of the Cottonwood Mall and put them in the box that was displayed beside it. Kelsi hoped someone would appreciate their old toys.

**Television**

Kelsi set up her living room for a night of classic Christmas moves with Ryan. She made some hot chocolate and caramel popcorn and took out her copies of "A Christmas Carol," "It's A Wonderful Life," and "Miracle on 34th Street." She heard the doorbell and excitedly rose to answer it. It was Ryan of course, and he brought more movie choices with him, "White Christmas" and "Christmas in Connecticut." They grabbed the popcorn and cocoa, put the first movie in the DVD player, wrapped themselves in blankets and settled down to watch all the movies.

**Tree**

After decorating her entire apartment Ryan and Kelsi decided that he needed to get a tree for his too. They took a taxi from his their apartment building to a tree lot. She found the perfect tree after a twenty minute search. It was full with no broken or bare branches and would fit very well in his living room without a problem. Ryan and the cab driver struggled to get it on the top of the car. They arrived home and were thankful that they had an elevator and hadn't had to drag it over several flights of stairs.

**Tree Trimming**

It was now time for the tree trimming. First they put the tree in a stand, then they moved his furniture so they could fit it in the corner that they wanted it to be. He brought out the box of decorations that he had kept in a closet. Each of the ornaments had something to do with the performing arts. There were silver and gold plated music notes and dancing shoes to name a few. He lifted her onto the ladder and held onto the sides as she leaned in to put the star on top of the tree.

**Caroling**

Kelsi was persuaded by the Evans family to go caroling through the neighborhood. As she expected Ryan's family made a big spectacle of the whole thing, including dressing the whole family and herself in matching red and green festive outfits. Zeke soon joined them in front of a house in his own brightly colored outfit and began singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." The six of them walked down the entire street and sang carols they could remember. She realized that she had a lot of fun that night and sang "Let It Snow" more enthusiastically than anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own High School Musical or its characters. They're owned by Disney

**Fruit**

Kelsi sat in front the Evans' Christmas tree as Derby handed her a large pink gift basket. It was a fruit basket with apples, oranges, pears and even a pineapple. The small composer didn't know what to tell the woman who had been so nice to her in the months since she started dating her son. She turned to Ryan, who was standing behind her. He saw the look on her face hidden by her too wide smile and quickly realized that Kelsi didn't like the gift. He began to prepare a lie for her to spare his mother's feelings.

**Sweater**

Among their Christmas gifts under the tree were two colorful boxes from her parents. Inside the boxes were two matching bright red and green spotted sweaters with large puffy brown tassels hanging off it. Kelsi thought they were ugly. Ryan found a note taped to one of the boxes that read, "You and your boyfriend will look just darling in these!" The Nielsen's weren't there to see her reaction. He was relieved that he didn't have to spare the feelings of another set of parents that night. Luckily the other gifts they received were much more to their taste.

**Christmas Cards**

Ryan and Kelsi spent the better part of an hour making homemade, personalized Christmas cards for all their friends from both East High and Julliard. Each person's card had a design and message especially for them. The table was covered in crafting supplies, envelopes, and stamps. They even had glue on their fingers and glitter on their clothes. Neither one of them were very crafty, but they knew their friends would appreciate their efforts. It took almost as long to clean up as it had to make the cards. Weeks later they would still find glitter in the living room.

**Chocolate**

A few days after Thanksgiving Ryan bought Kelsi an advent calender. Each day she would peel back the numbered square to get to the chocolate inside. The pieces were shaped like Santa Claus, Christmas stockings, and other things. She would try to offer her some every day and every day he would refuse. He would take it from her hand, then would try to feed it to her. She would always squirm from his playful grip. He would pretend to be getting ready to chase her around the room and she would finally allow him to feed it to her.

**Song**

Kelsi was writing a new song, but this time it wasn't for a class or a production. It was for her boyfriend, Ryan. It was the hardest composition for her to write of anything she had ever attempted, for that reason. She was really nervous for him to hear it. She had played parts of it for each of her friends to hear to get their opinions on it. Everyone had loved it and tried to reassure her that he would too. She wanted to believe them, but she was far too anxious. His opinion mattered the most to her.

**Shopping**

It was "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year. Sharpay had persuaded Ryan and Kelsi to go shopping with her. The mall was a madhouse and the couple definitely regretted getting talked into following his twin's orders once again. She had to find all the good sales, even if she didn't need the product. She dragged them to all the major department stores and was now making her way to all the smaller ones. They went to all the places on the first floor with Ryan and Kelsi being forced to carry everything.

**Ribbon**

Kelsi was having a hard time with tying the ribbon on the Christmas present she was going to give to Ryan. The medium-sized box had been perfectly wrapped in beautiful golden wrapping paper, and then she had spent almost ten minutes working on the knot for the red ribbon. She was beginning to get very frustrated. She felt like throwing something, but in the end she found a bow from another box and stuck it on it. She cared more about him than the present and the thought behind the gift was more important than how it was wrapped anyway.

**Snowman**

Ryan and Kelsi decided to pick the perfect spot for their snowman in his parents enormous backyard. They were in competition with their friends for the best snowman. Everyone was in teams of two and were rushing around the yard to make the theirs the most remarkable. Each team's entry was several feet from the others and the surrounding areas were covered, by tarps, so everyone could be certain that they couldn't be seen. Mr. Fulton had been persuaded by Sharpay be the judge. Sharpay and Zeke's team won, to no one's surprise. He would never vote for anyone else.

**Melt**

After their friends left his parents house Kelsi and Ryan sat in the Evans' living room and watched the snow melt. It had been several hours since the contest and snow never lasted long in Albuquerque. Ryan worked on the fireplace as Kelsi got them each some cookies and milk from the kitchen. Zeke and Sharpay had promised that they would come back later to play some board games with them and maybe charades too. After getting the fire going Ryan everything from Kelsi's hands, and led her to the couch, so they could continue to watch the melting snow.

**Scarf**

Kelsi stared at the beautiful new blue scarf she had been given that Christmas. There wasn't a card or tag with the box she had been given. She thought she knew who it was from though. Her friends had given her the new collection hats. Her parents had given both her a sweater and the Evans' had given her the fruit basket. This gift could only be from one person, Ryan. She needed to go search for him and thank him for her gift. She knew it had been hard for him to keep it a secret for so long.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I don't own High School Musical or any songs mentioned in this chapter

**Eggnog**

Ryan and Kelsi gathered all the ingredients for her mother's eggnog recipe. He collected the measuring cups and spoons, a large bowl, plastic wrap, and the beater while she found the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. They laid everything on her kitchen counter and began mixing it all together. After completing the recipe they noticed the mess they had made. She put the drink into the refrigerator to get it to chill. She hoped that this would turn out better than the cookies she baked earlier. Three hours later they had a well made bowl full of eggnog.

**Candles**

Kelsi and Ryan, along with the rest of their friends were putting up a farolitos display in her parents front yard. The group decided to use an assembly line style. Kelsi and Gabriella opened each paper bag, Ryan and Troy put the sand inside, Chad and Taylor placed the candle in, Martha and Jason put each bag in the perfect spot and Sharpay and Zeke lit the candles in them all. Their teamwork helped them finish much faster than they would have alone. When they were done they decided to go inside and have some hot cocoa with Kelsi's parents.

**Candy Canes**

Candy canes were probably Kelsi's favorite treat during the holidays. She loved the blueberry flavored ones, but the peppermint flavored kind would always be her favorite. When she was younger her mom would always put one or two in her Christmas stocking. After moving to New York she made sure to bring some along with her that she would sometimes eat while she was busy composing a song. The week before she was going to return to Albuquerque for the holidays a package came in the mail and was delivered to her apartment. Inside the box were some candy canes.

**Santa Suit**

The mall needed a Santa Claus to take some pictures with some children. Kelsi, Taylor, Gabriella, Sharpay and Martha all thought that it was the perfect job for their boyfriends. Only one of them was needed, so they needed to decide who they would volunteer to do it. At first they thought that Troy would be the most easily persuaded, but he put his foot down. In the end it was Ryan who was talked into wearing the Santa suit. His naturally cheery disposition and good acting skills managed to get him through the embarrassing ordeal without too much problem.

**Fireplace**

When Kelsi first moved into her New York apartment she was excited to see that it had a fireplace. She never had one at her childhood home in Albuquerque. She imagined what she would do to decorate it. Usually there would only be her ceramic knick knacks on the mantle, but at Christmastime she would have garlands and Christmas stockings lining the front of it. It would look like she always dreamed it would. She could hardly wait to tell her parents and friends all about the set up of her new apartment. Christmas time could not come too soon.

"**Winter Wonderland"**

Since arriving at Julliard Ryan had spent most of his time concentrating on his choreography, but of course he still knew how to sing. He wanted to serenade Kelsi with one of her favorite Christmas carols, "Winter Wonderland." He arranged everything so he could keep it all a surprise. When she came home after her last class he stood outside their apartment building and began to sing a cappella. He could see her from her balcony and even though she was several stories above him, he could tell she really enjoyed it. Maybe he should make it a tradition.

**Cold**

It was just days before Christmas and Ryan had noticed that Kelsi was coming down with a cold. She looked miserable and he knew he had to take care of her. She protested and said she was fine, but he knew better. He picked her up off her couch, carried her to her bed and put her under her covers. Then he made her some soup and hot tea and brought a tissue box, placing it beside her bed. After she ate her soup, drank her tea and blew her nose a few times she was finally able to rest.

**Sledding**

Ryan got his old sled from his parents garage and took Kelsi's hand. He decided that they were going to go sledding in the Evans' backyard.. The large area gave them plenty of room for it and the only problems they were having had to do with their jackets and scarves getting in the way. They would climb their way up the hill, then slide their way down and go through the process all over again. They had fun, but eventually got pretty tired climbing and were getting cold too. When they finally came back inside they were soaking wet.

**Home**

Kelsi had never had to travel home for Christmas. She had always been exactly where she needed to be to celebrate the season with the ones she loved. This year though she was all the way in New York while her family was in Albuquerque. She had really missed her parents and could not wait to see them again. She had not seen them since the day she left for school back in September and was anxious to see them. She saw them the moment she exited the airport terminal and ran up to them, giving them both a hug.

**Stocking**

Kelsi's Christmas stocking this year not only had the candy canes she always had inside, but also pieces of chocolate and an assortment of cookies in a bag. She loved going through her Christmas stocking every year. It was always fun to see what there would be. Sometimes she would even find gift cards to her favorite music store too. She made herself a cup of hot cocoa and started digging through it to get to the candy canes located on the bottom. After eating all the candy canes she began dunking the cookies and chocolate in her hot cocoa.


End file.
